Travel // Shawn Mendes

thirty-two

"Your mom is hilarious," Shawn tells me as we go into his rented car, and I groan.

"That was the most humiliating thing I think I've ever experienced," I respond.

We were only supposed to be at my house for around an hour, but we ended up spending almost the whole day there, eating lunch and playing Mario Cart while my mom spoke with Tía Carmelita on the phone. Right before we left, though, my mom took the opportunity to point out a rather tragic looking photo of yours truly from third grade, back when my frizzy hair was to my chin and everybody called me Dora (which stuck until middle school, when I moved to New York). She was smiling fondly at it before asking me if I remembered the time Xavier came over and kissed my picture in seventh grade, when he was supposed to have kissed me on a dare. My senior year Xavier told me that the real reason was because he actually liked me, but was too scared to kiss me and mess up, which I'll admit was a little cute.

Anyways, my mom told Shawn more embarrassing stories than I could count, and the worst part was that she wasn't even doing it on purpose. She saw that Shawn was genuinely interested in hearing these stories, so she continued to tell them.

"I loved the story about you and your sister," he says, and I put my hands over my face.

"That was the worst one."

As we begin driving, I pull my phone out, surprised to see two messages from Jen and Aidan.

Jen's was a confirmation that she would actually be able to come to the concert tonight (which Shawn was currently driving me to). Aidan's, however, was not.

Forgot to say: Lolah says hi. Please respond soon, she might murder me in the next minute for forgetting.

Tell her I say hi! and fingers crossed she ends up getting rid of u anyways

harsh. is the only reason u two r friends because of your mutual hatred towards me?

not completely

Lmao ur right, the other half is because u two are dating shawn at the same time

Aidan sends a bunch of heart eye emojis, and a weird feeling goes through me.

what????

joking!!! i know ur not with Shawn. plz Nora, I'm not a complete idiot

lol how long have Lolah and Shawn been together??

Sitting only a foot away from Shawn, I had never felt so far away from him.

they used to have a thing a WHILE back. after we came back from cali shawn was all weird and shit and so they broke up (i didn't tell u this, so don't mention it or I'll sacrifice you to the goats.)

ohh. I thought u meant they were still dating

nah but they're hanging out tomorrow night so u already know what's about to happen 😩😩🤑🤑

I felt sick. Wasn't I just about to kiss Shawn a few hours ago?

lmaooo why didn't shawn tell me he liked her? feeling left out af

I decided to play it cool, like I didn't really care but I wanted to know anyways.

he hasn't even told me yet 🤧 but lolah thinks she's a whole ass FBI agent and has pointed out a bunch of shit that she thinks proves he wants to get back with her.

"Nora, you good?" Shawn asks, and I stop looking at my phone to stare at him.

"Yeah, fine. Jen just said that she could make it to the concert, so I guess I won't be alone," I tell him. Not a lie.

"Well that's awkward, because I kind of bought myself a ticket so you wouldn't be by yourself," Shawn says, and if I wasn't so confused at the moment, I would be touched.

"If you have better things to do tonight, that's fine," I tell him, before stopping myself.

Tonight would be the perfect chance to see if he was with Lolah or not. I would bring her up in a conversation before the concert started, and then causally ask about if he liked her the way she likes him. I didn't want to get all angry over absolutely nothing, since Aidan wasn't even sure about it.

Still, a bit of me was angry over it, because what if it ended up being true?

"But Jen will be with her boyfriend all night, so I'll stay third-wheeling," I add, showing him that I wouldn't really have that much company.

"My plans were to hang out with an insanely funny, pretty, and charming girl," he says, and I smile.

"Then you should probably go and hang with her. I'll be fine third-wheeling," I tell him, and he rolls his eyes at me.

We continue to talk, and I try to forget everything for the moment, talking to him like I always do in case the whole Lolah thing wasn't true. Finally, we pull up at the coffee shop and both get out, walking inside and scanning our tickets. We ended up a little late, since they had started letting people in around ten minutes ago, but it wasn't too packed. For a Sarah Wilson concert, though, the outcome was good.

The coffee shop was built strangely, with a small dip in the floor that brought you to a miniature pit for you to stand in and get close to the small stage. That pit was almost completely filled, though, so instead of standing in it, Shawn and I walked over to the tables, where there was only one couple sitting.

I realized the couple was Jen and Caleb, and only at that moment did I notice what I had done. Caleb had no idea about any of this Shawn stuff, so he would be beyond shocked to see him here. I needed to sort this out, fast.

"Hey, I need to call Andr- my manager, I'll be right back," he tells me, and I realize this was a perfect chance.

"Okay, I'll be here."

The moment Shawn walks away, I almost sprint to Jen's table. As I'm on my way, I knock into someone, and realize that this would take up even more time before Shawn got back.

"I'm sorry!" I quickly say, turning away, but before I can move the voice stops me.

"Nora?"

That voice was too familiar, and I knew exactly who it was the moment he spoke.

"Xavier!"

He laughs, bewildered, and only as I'm looking at him do I remember just how hot he was. No wonder every single girl in high school wanted to date him.

"Shit, how are you?" He asks, going in for a hug, and I wrap my arms around him, replying.

"Good! What are you doing here?" I question, and as he releases me from the hug, he freezes.

"What?" I ask, turning around to see what he was looking at.

It was Shawn, walking over only to stand besides me.

"Oh, this is Shawn. Shawn, this is my friend Xavier," I introduce, embarrassed that Shawn had caught me mid-hug with a random guy.

"Nice to meet you," Xavier says in shock, giving Shawn one of those bro-handshakes.

"You too," he says, and for once I couldn't read his expression.

"Nora!" I hear, and Jen begins to walk over to me, a smile on her face. Behind her came Caleb, who looked just as shocked to see Shawn.

"Oh, hey Shawn. This is my boyfriend, Caleb," she tells him, before her jaw drops.

"Xavier?" She says in disbelief, and he laughs.

"Hey, Jen," he smiles his same boyish grin, and Caleb laughs.

"So you're Xavier? About time I met you after Nora wouldn't stop saying your name."

oh shit!

can y'all believe we're on chapter 32?? wiG

going to take a shower then read ur comments bc u guys are hiLaRIOUS